Baptist Mills an area of the city of
Bristol
Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...
, England. The name derives from the former mills which stood in that area.
Geology
The solid geology of Baptist Mills comprises
Triassic
The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest per ...
Redcliffe Sandstone, which is overlain by superficial deposits of
Quaternary
The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million year ...
alluvium
Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. ...
in the floodplain of the Horfield Brook and the
River Frome.
History
Baptist Mills is so named from the mills that once stood there. A grist (flour) mill is recorded in this area in a document written in 1470, and again in 1610, when they are marked on Chester and Master's Map of Kingswood.
The mills were converted to
brass mills by the Bristol Brass Company, formed in 1702 by
Abraham Darby Abraham Darby may refer to:
People
*Abraham Darby I (1678–1717) the first of several men of that name in an English Quaker family that played an important role in the Industrial Revolution. He developed a new method of producing pig iron with ...
, Edward lloyd, John Andrews, and Arthur Thomas. In 1706, further partners were admitted, the business becoming an early unincorporated
joint stock company
A joint-stock company is a business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares (certificates of ownership). Shareholders a ...
with a capital of £8000. While there, Darby recruited skilled 'Dutchmen' to operate a brass battery with trip hammers. He may also have recruited men skilled in sand
moulding as opposed to the loam moulding hitherto used in England. Darby was the active partner in the business, but later withdrew to concentrate on his new
ironfounding business at
Coalbrookdale
Coalbrookdale is a village in the Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire, England, containing a settlement of great significance in the history of iron ore smelting. It lies within the civil parish called the Gorge.
This is where iron ore was first ...
.
Brass production at the Baptist Mills Brass Works ceased in 1814, and in 1839 parts of the former brass works were acquired Joseph and James White, who established a factory manufacturing "Egyptian Black" pottery,
and clay tobacco pipes. By 1861 the business was known as the Phoenix Pottery. The pottery closed at some point after 1891.
The last remains of the brass works were destroyed when Junction 3 of the
M32 Motorway was constructed in the early 1970s. However, slag blocks made from waste from the works can be found in the area.
References
{{coord, 51.4665, -2.5745, region:GB-BST_type:landmark, display=title
Areas of Bristol
Non-ferrous metallurgical works in the United Kingdom